SECTION I - HOLIDAY LORE

1. Midsummer and It's Lore - StormWing
2. A Druid Ponders: - A Walk in the Summer Sun - LadyToad
3. Lissa - Baboo Kyra Finch 

Litha and Its Lore
By StormWing
Litha (pronounced "LITH-ah") is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats and is usually celebrated on June 21st, but varies somewhat from the 20th to the 23rd, dependant upon the Earth's rotation around the Sun (check the calendar). According to the old folklore calendar, Summer begins on Beltane (May 1st) and ends on Lughnassadh (August 1st), with the Summer Solstice midway between the two, marking MID-Summer. This makes more logical sense than suggesting that Summer begins on the day when the Sun's power begins to wane and the days grow shorter...

The most common other names for this holiday are the Summer Solstice or Midsummer, and it celebrates the arrival of Summer, when the hours of daylight are longest. The Sun is now at the highest point before beginning its slide into darkness. Other names for this time in the Wheel of the Year include Alban Heruin, (Caledonii or the Druids), Alban Hefin (Anglo-Saxon Tradition), Sun Blessing, Gathering Day (Welsh), Whit Sunday, Whitsuntide, Vestalia (Ancient Roman), the Feast of Epona (Ancient Gaulish), All-Couple's Day (Greek), and St. John's Day. Scottish Pecti-Witans celebrate Feill-Sheathain on July 5th. In the Italian tradition of Aridian Strega, this Sabbat (Strega Witches call them Treguendas rather than Sabbats) is known as Summer Fest - La Festa dell'Estate. Scandinavians celebrate this holiday at a later date and call it Thing-Tide. In England, June 21st is "The Day of Cerridwen and Her Cauldron". And in Ireland, this day is dedicated to the faery goddess Aine of Knockaine. And finally, in Northern Europe - June 21st is "The Day of the Green Man".

The Litha Sabbat is a time to celebrate both work and leisure, it is a time for children and childlike play. It is a time to celebrate the ending of the waxing year and the beginning of the waning year, in preparation for the harvest to come. Midsummer is a time to absorb the Sun's warming rays and it is another fertility Sabbat, not only for humans, but also for crops and animals. Wiccans consider the Goddess to be heavy with pregnancy from the mating at Beltane - honor is given to Her. The Sun God is celebrated as the Sun is at its peak in the sky and we celebrate His approaching fatherhood - honor is also given to Him. The faeries abound at this time and it is customary to leave offerings - such as food or herbs - for them in the evening.

Symbols to represent the Litha Sabbat are such things as fire, the Sun, blades, mistletoe, oak trees, balefires, Sun wheels and faeries. Altar decorations might include Summertime flowers - especially sunflowers - love amulets, seashells, aromatic potpourri and Summer fruits. If you made Sun wheels at Imbolc, you should now display them prominently. Hang them from the ceiling or place them on trees in your yard. You may also want to decorate them with yellow and gold ribbons and Summer herbs.

Deities associated with Litha include all Father Gods and Mother Goddesses, Pregnant Goddesses and Sun Deities. Particular emphasis might be placed on the Goddesses Aphrodite, Astarte, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar, Venus and other Goddesses who preside over love, passion and beauty. Other Litha deities include Athena, Artemis, Dana, Kali, Isis, Juno, Apollo, Dagda, Gwydion, Helios, Llew, Oak/Holly King, Lugh, Ra, Sol, Zeus, Prometheus, Ares, and Thor.

The cycle of fertility has been expressed in many god-forms. One pair of these - which has persisted from early Pagan times to modern folklore - is that of the Oak King and the Holly King, Gods respectively of the Waxing Year and the Waning Year. The Oak King rules from Midwinter to Midsummer - the period of Fertility, Expansion and Growth; while the Holly King reigns from Midsummer to Midwinter - the period of Harvest, Withdrawal and Wisdom. They are the light and dark twins, each being the other's alternate self, thus being one. Each represents a necessary phase in the natural rhythm, therefore both are good. At the two changeover points, they symbolically meet in combat. The incoming twin - the Oak King at Midwinter, the Holly King at Midsummer - "slays" the outgoing one. But the defeated twin is not actually considered dead - he has merely withdrawn during the six months of his brother's rule.

On Midsummer Night, field and forest elves, sprites, and fairies abound in great numbers - making this a great time to commune with them. Litha is considered one of the best times to perform magicks of all kinds, for it is considered a time of great magickal power. Especially effective magick and spells at this time include the performance of those for love, healing and prosperity. A wreath can be made for your door with yellow feathers for prosperity and red feathers for sexuality - intertwined and tied together with ivy. This is also a very good time to perform blessings and protection spells for your pets or other animals. You may want to choose to include your pet within your cast Circle at this Sabbat celebration, and even present him or her with a special gift (such as a tiny pentacle to attach to his or her collar). I have done this and found it very rewarding and heartwarming.

Nurturing and love are key actions related to Midsummer. If you haven't yet done so, Litha is a good time to perform your Self-Dedication Ceremony... or - if you have been practicing Wicca for a while - you may choose to perform a simple Re-dedication/Affirmation as a part of your Sabbat celebration. Ritual actions for Litha might include placing a flower-ringed cauldron upon your altar, plunging of the sword (or athame) into the cauldron, balefire leaping (outdoors) and the gathering and drying of herbs. Herbs can be dried over the ritual fire if you're celebrating outdoors. Leap the bonfire for purification and renewed energy. Ritually, use mirrors to capture the light of the Sun or the flames of the fire. Some things that are considered taboo on this holiday are giving away fire, sleeping away from home, and neglecting animals.

Colors associated with the Summer Solstice include white, red, maize yellow or golden yellow, green, blue and tan. Altar candles could be either a combination of blue, green, and yellow --- or red and gold. Stones to use during Litha include all green gemstones, especially emerald and jade. Other appropriate gemstones are tiger's eye, lapis lazuli and diamonds. Animals associated with this Sabbat include robins, wrens, all Summer birds, horses and cattle. Mythical creatures include satyrs, faeries, firebirds, dragons, thunderbirds and manticores.

Plants associated with Midsummer are oak, mistletoe, frankincense, lemon, sandalwood, heliotrope, copal, saffron, galangal, laurel and ylang-ylang. Herbs associated with this Sabbat are chamomile, cinquefoil, elder, fennel, hemp, larkspur, lavender, male fern, mugwort, pine, roses, Saint John's wort, wild thyme, wisteria and verbena. Traditionally, herbs gathered on this day are extremely powerful. Incense for the Litha Sabbat Ritual might be a combination of any of the following or simply one of them by itself... frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, lemon, pine, jasmine, rose, lotus, or wysteria.

Traditional Pagan foods for Litha include fresh vegetables of all kinds and fresh fruits such as lemons and oranges. Other standard fare may be pumpernickel bread as well as Summer squash and any yellow or orange colored foods. Flaming foods are also appropriate. Traditional drinks are ale, mead, and fresh fruit juice of any kind.

May the Lord and Lady bless you all with lots of love, prosperity, health, and well-being!

Be Blessed, StormWing

A Walk in the Summer Sun
ladytoad

My life runs on synchronicity that accident of coincidence that psychologist Carl Jung tells us is no accident, but a gift from the universe. I am grateful for these gifts. They teach, they open doors I never even thought to approach, they alter my thinking and my life. Ten years ago, synchronicity put me at Glastonbury Tor on the Summer Solstice. The group of high school students I was leading on a tour of Britain had been set to depart a full week earlier. By a twist of fate, we were delayed, and in my haste to keep track of seventeen teenagers, sets of passports, and accompanying luggage, I didn't reconcile our new schedule to where I would be on the Solstice. I was just happy to be in England at all. We spent several days exploring London and had then visited Stonehenge, Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon, and Bath. Our next stop was Glastonbury. I have been attracted all my life to Arthurian legend, and I was brimming with excitement that morning. Our tour guide expressed, at breakfast, some reluctance to stop in Glastonbury that afternoon. "After all," she explained, "it is the Solstice. The crowds will be terrible. The hippies head there since they can't get to Stonehenge anymore." "The Solstice?" I was stunned and even more disappointed than I might have been under normal circumstances. My entire trip had been magical, but the Tor on the Solstice? What were the chances of that sort of coincidence?

Fortunately, my students knew how badly I wanted to see Glastonbury. I had talked of little else when we had planned our trip, and they were determined for me to put my feet on the Tor. They raised such a ruckus with the guide, threatening fraud since we had been promised Glastonbury, threatening to call home, threatening to make her life miserable that she finally agreed that we would go to Glastonbury. Traffic was terrible as she had predicted, and as our bus crawled along, I took the microphone and began to tell the Arthurian story of Camelot and the personalities who had lived there. The group of thirty students from Illinois who made up the rest of the group were as mesmerized as mine. No one complained about the slow pace or the unseasonable heat. They were all caught up in the myth. "There it is!" someone suddenly shouted. Through the trees and still far in the distance, the Tor rose majestically out of the landscape, indistinct in the haze of a perfect summer's day. As our road twisted and turned, it teased us with only glimpses, but it grew larger and greener as we approached, and finally we were there.

"We only have forty-five minutes to spare," the guide announced. "Everyone must be on the bus in forty-five minutes." "But that's not long enough," I wailed. "It's okay," one of my students grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me along with our group, promising the harried tour guide over his shoulder that we would be back. "But it's not okay," I said. "Forty-five minutes isn't enough." The others laughed, "So what are they going to do when eighteen people don't show up in forty-five minutes? Leave? We want to see everything, and we're gonna do it."

Together, we explored the Chalice Well and the pools with their rust-colored water descending in a series of small terraced waterfalls. My firmly Christian students all demanded to be "blessed," so I anointed each one with the water and recited a blessing over them. At the Well, I made a prayer to the goddess. They were appropriately quiet. "This place feels so holy," someone said.Then we climbed the Tor. One of my favorite students took my hand. "Is it okay for a Christian to climb it with you?" she asked. "I'd be honored," I said.

The Tor is not a little hill. It rises steep and high. Its base is covered with ancient apple trees, but as you climb, the wind whips up, and the trees disappear, and a wonderful shimmer of air and sky and cloud and grass take over, and you are breathless with the climbing and breathless with the amazing energy of the place itself earth and sky amalgamated. When we finally reached the top, I threw my arms to the sky in absolute, perfect joy. I don't know how long I stood like that, but I finally realized that a number of people had gathered around me. "Are you a Druid, then?" a bedraggled young man asked, awed. "Why, yes. I am."

I was regaled with questions from people of all ages, with a variety of accents, and we sat down upon the grass and talked about loving the earth and finding god in all of it. The sun shone down on us, and some of the queen's geographers who were surveying ley lines joined us and explained that they measure them every year on the Solstice, that Britain has made a great project of determining ley lines and their connections. The other side of the Tor falls quickly away, and sitting at the top is like being at the very top of the world. Far below, the lovely English countryside with its carefully marked fields and hedgerows and orchards stretched in front of us and away. It was idyllic, surreal. Finally, my little group dispersed and I was able to stand alone and say some prayers and feel the vast pool of energy that rose out of that pile of earth and stone. It was a liminal experience, a sensory threshold to another plane, a connection with a world I had known before, but only in ritual and never with such intensity, a full and conscious understanding that I was an intricate part of time, of that hour, on that day when the sun would shine its longest upon that place and upon me. I felt the others who had stood there before me, like me, humbled.

We came down off the hill slowly and in awe, two and a half hours later. Our guide was fuming, of course, but the other group had stayed on the hill as well, and no one had returned after forty-five minutes. It was a quiet leaving. Everyone had been affected by the intense energies of the day, and most were very tired. We watched the hill disappear in the rear windows, and then most of the students went to sleep. I didn't sleep for two days. I was too moved, too filled with excitement. I spent hours that night writing my thoughts in my journal while my roommate slept. I thank the gods who arranged that little tour for me. The Tor has become an image on my mind and on my soul that will never be erased. I can sit any time I wish and close my eyes and be there again, and though ten years has passed, I can still feel and smell and hear the Tor

LISSA
Baboo Kyra

We celebrate this Sabbat by using fire. It burns in our spirits, and we affirm our vows to the earth and each other.

It is a time of first harvest, with Solstice parties and faires everywhere. The Gatherings allow us to barter the crafts we created during the winter, gossip, meet old friends and make new ones. We choose places and people that welcome children and respect the Earth and Her gifts. We share traditions, crafts and wisdom with other Pagans. We indulge in much nit-picking of obscure differences between Gardnerian and Alexandrian scourging; which Runes are best, the Old or the Young; and can Dianics really Draw Down the Moon without men present? (Author’s note: Yes.)

Many handfasting take place in June, as May is reserved for the Goddess and Her Consort. Handfastings may overlap so densely, that you find yourself going from one party to another. While not very good for your cholesterol, it’s wonderful for your soul

Summer Gardens

Start a garden: Save bottoms of cardboard egg cartons. When you have two or three, set them in a baking dish with about an inch of sand on the bottom. Wedge them in nice and tight but don’t lose their shape. Fill with good potting soil and place in a sunny window. Get a variety of lettuce, parsley, basil, and other leafy green plant seeds. put three or four seeds in each cup and sprinkle with water to moisten. Cover with a piece of plastic and leave alone until you see the first two leaves. You can take the plastic off, but be sure to keep the plants moist but not soggy. In about 4 to 6 weeks, you will have large enough plants to clip leaves off of to use on a daily(ish) basis.

If you want to transplant them outside, do so, cardboard cup and all, into larger pots, three or four plants per pot. If you are using clay pots, be sure to soak them in water first because clay absorbs LOTS of water. Use good potting soil with lots of organic matter. Let them get used to being outside. If it’s very hot or cold or windy, put them outside for a little while each day for the first few days. Actually, even if you don’t harden them, the only thing that will really kill them is to let them dry out or freeze. This whole paragraph is the result of watching too many Martha Stewart programs.

For a potted garden, the main elements are space, grouping and sun. Also, you need a good nursery that will get you the plants you want! Usually we want things no-one else does, like comfrey and patchouli.

For a medicinal pot you will need a big container, preferably about 2 feet across. A barrel is good. You can get a big wooden box and line it with trash bags, or use several smaller pots grouped together.

Garden Medicinals:
a Aloe vera: burns and scrapes
a Comfrey: antiinflammatory, analgesic, swelling reducer, heals bruises, breaks, sprains, bumps and bites.
a Plantain: insect and spider bites. This is the only thing that stops the necrosis with brown recluse spider bites. Use it in conjunction with "modern" medicine. They compliment each other.
a Rosemary: Antiinfective, analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal
a Sage: Speeds up the healing process, antiinfective
a Yarrow: Antiinfective, analgesic, blood coagulator. There are others. Goddess is pretty redundant with Her herbs.

Comfrey and plantain have large leaves that form a wide rosette close to the ground. You need a wide planting place for them. You can cram them all together in a smaller pot. They all need sun and regular watering (not kept soaked, though)

Potted Magick

Plant together:
a For prosperity: Plant together in one pot, marigolds, moneywort, pennyroyal
a For love: parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
a For protection: rue (don't keep rue near other plants or plant it in the same container, except for roses); rosemary; fennel, patchouli
a Maiden energy: Parsley, the artemesias
a Mother: Rosemary, thyme
a Crone energy: Sage
a Lord: Tarragon, mint, yarrow, pansies, heart’s ease
a Really great pasta: oregano or marjoram, basil, rosemary, a tomato and a bell pepper

Gardening Tips

All the plants like sun. They don't need it for 8 hours, but for at least a few hours a day.

I always expect to lose about 25% of everything I plant. It doesn't always happen, but when I expect it to, it doesn’t feel as bad when it does.

As an herbalist and gardener, the concept of using the signs for gardening fascinates me. I think that the ancients assigned constellations assigned to certain elements because when the moon is in a particular place in the sky, its gravity and magnetism effects the behavior of energies on earth. This leans them toward certain accomplishments. This year I'm working in my herb garden from two almanacs, and checking out the results.

One experiment is to see what I feel like doing before I check the almanac. I check to determine if my intuitive desire matches the moon sign. It does most of the time.

My moods can skew the results. That is, if I'm angry, I like to pull weeds, prune and dig; if I'm feeling serene, I like to pot things, seed new plants and take cuttings. If I'm feeling adventurous, I like to wild craft, harvest and shop. Most of the time, though, all of this coincides.

As a simple rule of thumb, do your buying and planting when the moon is in a water or earth sign. Fertilize and harvest in a fire sign if you're going to dry the herbs, and air if you're going to use them fresh. Or just clip them whenever you need them. Water in water signs, weed in fire signs. Plant leafy and/or viney above ground stuff during first two phases of the moon, rootstock, third and fourth phase.

The plants I’ve listed are pretty easy to grow and can take a good dose of neglect. Be stingy with the fertilizer.

Don’t buy containers retail. It’s against our religion. Instead, go back, once again, to garage sales, swap meets, junk stores, etc. If you have friends who are into ceramics, hit them up for pots. Line baskets with chicken wire and moss. These may have a limited life span, but they look great. I rub garden soil on the outside and weird things spring to life. I actually had mushrooms growing on the sides of a basket planter.

Soak clay and wood containers well before using them If you add some raw yogurt or sour milk to the water you soak them with, it will give the plants a boost. They absorb a lot of moisture and will dry out your seedlings. Water them more frequently than glazed ceramic pots but don’t keep the plants soggy.

Instead of bothering with a compost pile, I just bury my vegetable refuse through the yard. I rotate the locations. By the time I get back to site #1, the orange rinds and banana skins are now rich soil crawling with earth worms.

Everything I read about compost says to keep left over bones and fat out of the compost pile. It is true that this can draw wild animals, ants and flies. On the other hand, if buried nice and deep, it does create a very rich soil. I also bury all hair clippings, mouse cage refuse, sea food remains including shells, and pretty much anything that would normally go back into the earth if left to the natural state of things.

Before throwing them away, I also fill all milk and juice containers with water and pour this into my potted plants. My soil is alkaline and welcomes the diluted acid water.

A healthy garden should be full of life. You should have birds, lizards, frogs, tons of bugs and earthworms. Don’t worry about aphids, snails and cut worms. If you leave things alone, the predators will take care of all your problems. Healthy plants can withstand the onslaught long enough for Mother Nature to balance the ecology of the garden.

If you really feel the need to do something about the plant eaters, buy snails that eat snails, lady bugs and wash your plants down with a combination of soap (not detergent) and cayenne pepper.

Do not, I repeat, do not, buy praying mantises (manti?). I did that one year and the only insect left alive in the garden was one very large and very tame female mantis.

Other good garden projects for kids are turnips, radishes, carrots and beets. Tomatoes and zucchini are really easy to grow, but need some space and lots of sun. You will find out what does well where by experimenting.

Put a tiny grain of nothing in the ground, and get food! That is what I call real magick!